A ARQUITETURA COMO AGENCIAMENTO INFORMACIONAL: A LINGUAGEM GRÁFICA DO LIVRO FARMAX (1998)

Considering the links between data visualization technologies and the architectural discourse, this paper addresses how Dutch studio MVRDV expressed its engagement with parametric digital modeling in the book FARMAX – Excursions in Density (1998). The text begins by briefly introducing the context of emergence of book, divided in three themes: first, the impact of digital technologies on design strategies and architectural culture and iconography at the end of 20^th century; second, the particularities of the architectural publishing scene of those times; and third, the specificities of MVRDV's professional profile and discourse within that context. Proceeding to case study, the paper examines how graphic design choices in FARMAX expressed the office’s methodological engagement with generative digital processes and its rhetorical engagement with new data visualization possibilities related to those processes, specially the “datascaping” principle. At the end, this paper argues that the approach manifested in the book defines the core of contemporary architectural practice as an informational agency.